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Early Decision by Lacy CrawfordPublication date: August 27, 2013 by William MorrowSource: publisher for an honest reviewDescription from Goodreads:

In Early Decision, debut novelist Lacy Crawford draws on 15 years of experience traveling the world as a highly sought-after private college counselor to illuminate the madness of college admissions.

Working one-on-one with Tiger-mothered, burned-out kids, Anne “the application whisperer” can make Harvard a reality. Early Decision follows five students over one autumn as Anne helps them craft their college essays, cram for the SATs, and perfect the Common Application. It seems their entire future is on the line—and it is. Though not because of Princeton and Yale. It’s because the process, warped as it is by money, connections, competition, and parental mania, threatens to crush their independence just as adulthood begins.

Whether you want to get in or just get out, with wit and heart, Early Decision explodes the secrets of the college admissi…

Painted Hands by Jennifer ZobairPublication date: June 11, 2013 by Thomas Dunne BooksSource: Publisher via TLC Book Tours for a fair reviewSynopsis:
Muslim bad girl Zainab Mir has just landed a job working for a
post-feminist, Republican Senate candidate. Her best friend Amra Abbas
is about to make partner at a top Boston law firm. Together they’ve
thwarted proposal-slinging aunties, cultural expectations, and the
occasional bigot to succeed in their careers. What they didn’t count on?
Unlikely men and geopolitical firestorms.
When a handsome childhood friend reappears, Amra makes choices that Zainab considers so 1950s—choices that involve the perfect Banarasi silk
dress and a four-bedroom house in the suburbs. After hiding her long
work hours during their courtship, Amra struggles to balance her
demanding job and her unexpectedly traditional new husband.
Zainab has her own problems. She generates controversy in the Muslim
community with a suggestive magazine spread and frien…

Help for the Haunted by John SearlesPublication date: September 17, 2013 by William MorrowSource: ARC provided by publisher for an honest reviewDescription from Goodreads:It begins with a call in
the middle of snowy February evening. Lying in her bed, young Sylvie
Mason overhears her parents on the phone across the hall. This is not
the first late-night call they have received, since her mother and
father have an uncommon occupation, helping "haunted souls" find peace.
And yet, something in Sylvie senses that this call is different than the
rest, especially when they are lured to the old church on the outskirts
of town. Once there, her parents disappear, one after the other, behind
the church's red door, leaving Sylvie alone in the car. Not long after,
she drifts off to sleep only to wake to the sound of gunfire.

Nearly
a year later, we meet Sylvie again struggling with the loss of her
parents, and living in the care of her older sister, who may be to blame
fo…

Widowed for the second time at age thirty-one Katherine Parr falls
deeply for the dashing courtier Thomas Seymour and hopes at last to
marry for love. However, obliged to return to court, she attracts the
attentions of the ailing, egotistical, and dangerously powerful Henry
VIII, who dispatches his love rival, Seymour, to the Continent. No one
is in a position to refuse a royal proposal so, haunted by the fates of
his previous wives—two executions, two annulments, one death in
childbirth—Katherine must wed Henry and become his sixth queen.

Katherine has to employ all her instincts to navigate the treachery
of the court, drawing a tight circle of women around her, including her
stepdaughter, Meg, traumatized by events from their past that are
shrouded in secrecy, and their loyal servant Dot…

I am a wife and home schooling mother of three with a degree in English Literature and a huge appetite for reading. I read most types of books, but I am particularly fond of Victorian fiction, urban fantasy, some YA, sci fi, historical fiction, and the list could go on.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all of the books I review are either purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

When a review copy has been received from an author, publisher or company, it is in exchange for a fair review and has no effect on my opinion of the book. There is no monetary compensation for reviews. All reviews are my own personal reaction to and opinion of the book.

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